Alexander's Alley

Alexander’s Alley, located on 140th Street and Alexander Avenue in the Bronx, is named for a family of Mott Haven landowners and developers, Robert, Ellen, and their son Edwin Alexander. Very little is known about the family.

The Bronx gets its name from a Swedish sea captain named Jonas Bronck. In 1639, Bronck sailed for New Amsterdam and settled in the area which now bears his name. The captain purchased approximately 500 acres of land from the Dutch West India Company, and traded tools, clothes and utensils with local Native Americans for additional property. He built a stone home in what is now Morrisania, and owned one of the largest collections of books in the colony. Bronck's estate also hosted a peace conference with the Weckquasgeck Indians in 1642.